Jathedar Darshan Singh Pheruman (born August 1, 1886) was an old freedom fighter who was imprisoned by the British a number of times because of his role in India’s freedom struggle. He spent a total of 1S years in British jails before he was released in 1947. He was a member of the SGPC for several years and it’s General Secretary for two terms. He took an active part in the Congress and was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1951 to 1964. Disillusioned with the Congress party, he broke away from it and became a founding member of the Swatantra Party in 1959. By the 1960s, Pheruman got disgusted with the way in which the then Akali leaders were announcing that they would undertake a fast unto death and then backing off at the last minute on some pretext or another.
What nauseated Pheruman was that these leaders would perform the sacred Ardas or prayer in which they would announce their intentions and then not do what they had said. Of course this lowered the esteem of the Sikhs in the eyes of the others as well as their own eyes. In July 1969, he announced his intention of undertaking a fast unto death unless the Punjabi Suba or a Punjabi speaking slate was formed by 15 August 1969. The Congress government lead by Indira Gandhi was delaying the formation of such a state even as it implemented its polity of linguistic demarcation of states elsewhere because it realized that the Sikhs would form a majority on such a State.
Pheruman’s announcement came as a bolt of lightning for the Akali ministry lead by Gumam Singh. A vilification campaign was started against Pheruman who was accused by Akalis of being the agent of the Congress government. He was arrested from his home to prevent him from going to the Golden Temple to perform the Ardas, but this great Sikh was steadfast in his avowed goal. He started his fast on August 15, 1969 at exactly 7 p.m. He was first kept in jail, and then shifted to a hospital in Amritsar. By the 25th of October Pheruman had become so weak that he slipped in and out of a coma and on the 27 of October 1969 this great martyr breathed his last. The police removed his body forcibly from his relatives and took it to his village where an unsuccessful attempt was made to cremate it. It was cremated the next day, amidst protests from the 50,000 people who assembled there. The mourners besieged Chief minister Gumam Singh, Sant Chanan Singh and other leaders, till the police, after considerable difficulty and repeated baton charges which left many injured, removed the leaders to safety.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 23, 1996
